| Accession Number | P08655.001 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Glass original negative other |
| Maker |
Unknown |
| Place made | Australia: New South Wales, Sydney, Sydney Harbour |
| Date made | c 1930 |
| Conflict |
Period 1930-1939 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Tingira at her moorings in Berry's Bay, probably in the 1930s. Tingira, the former clipper ship ...
Description
Tingira at her moorings in Berry's Bay, probably in the 1930s. Tingira, the former clipper ship Sobraon, was built by Alexander Hall & Co of Aberdeen, Scotland. Launched in 1866 she was the largest composite sailing vessel ever built; her hull was constructed with an iron frame covered with teak planking and fastened with copper rivets. Sobraon sailed the England to Australia run from her maiden voyage on 9 September 1866, until her last voyage, when she arrived in Port Melbourne on 4 January 1890. She was sold to the NSW Government in January 1891, towed to Sydney, fitted out as a reformatory ship and moored off Cockatoo Island. As the Nautical School Ship Sobraon, more than 1,000 boys were committed to her care over the next 20 years. In 1911 she was purchased by Commonwealth Government, fitted out as a boy's training ship for the RAN and re-named Tingira, an Aboriginal name meaning "open sea". HMAS Tingira was commissioned at 8 am on 25 April 1912. Over the next 15 years 3,158 boys between the ages of 14½ and 16 years received their training in her before joining the fleet. On 30 June 1927 Tingira was paid off, towed to Berry's Bay and laid up. Despite the efforts of Major Friere, a retired British Army officer and his business partner, Mrs Louisa Ankin, to preserve Tingira as a national relic, she was finally broken up in 1941.